Chapter 23: Assistant

When Jiang Nai studied in the U.S., she had been in this area before. She remembered it was Christmas Eve when a group of classmates said they wanted to throw a party here. One girl, with whom she was closer, warmly invited her, and she didn’t want to refuse the kind gesture, so she came that night.

But she just couldn’t adapt to the way foreigners celebrated. After staying at the party for a while, she quietly left. At that time, it was hard to find a taxi at the exit, so she walked a bit to find a better spot, similar to this road. The snow that day was much heavier than now. She wrapped herself in her clothes and slowly walked forward, feeling lonely and detached, as if the joyous occasion had nothing to do with her.

Later, she slipped on the road, and her white down jacket became wet and dirty. It took her a while to get back up.

Of course, she was thinking about something… oh right, she was thinking that it would be nice if there was someone by her side.

She hoped that person could give her a hand. But at that time, she would never have imagined that when she returned to this place, the one who would reach out to her would be someone she had once panicked about and didn’t like very much.

Jiang Nai glanced at the hand that Li Qingji held… he was a bit different from what she had imagined. He seemed cold and heartless, but not completely so. They continued walking, and before long, they saw the bar at the end of the alley, where Lu Feng was standing outside smoking.

Seeing them, he stubbed out his cigarette and walked over.

“You guys finally finished eating, hurry up, we’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

Lu Feng led the two inside. The bar was run by a Chinese-American and was not noisy, with a white woman on stage singing emotional English songs.

This wasn’t really Lu Feng’s style.

“Brother, your friend is here,” said Lu Feng’s girlfriend, who he had brought along from the ferry last time.

The girl didn’t dare to greet Li Qingji, only waving at Jiang Nai, who responded and sat down.

At this table, Jiang Nai didn’t recognize anyone except Lu Feng and his girlfriend, Lin Hui. But it seemed that Li Qingji knew them, as she gathered from their conversation that this group had come to ski.

“We’re going to Lake Tahoe tomorrow, how about you? Want to come with us?” Lu Feng asked.

Li Qingji replied, “I have some matters to deal with; I’ll join you when I’m done.”

“Alright, we’ll go first, and you can come over when you finish work,” Lu Feng said. “Jiang Nai, do you want to go too?”

Li Qingji turned to look at the quiet Jiang Nai beside him.

Lu Feng added, “Jiang Nai should come along; it would be nice for her to play with you.”

Suddenly, everyone’s attention was on Jiang Nai, who hesitated and said, “I can’t ski.”

Lin Hui exclaimed, “Really! That’s great; I’m the only beginner here, and now I have someone to learn with!”

Lu Feng chimed in, “Exactly! It doesn’t matter if you can’t ski; you can learn. Your husband is an expert; he can teach you.”

Jiang Nai knew she was still on a business trip and couldn’t go skiing with Li Qingji, but with everyone being so enthusiastic, she didn’t know how to respond. So she secretly tugged at Li Qingji’s sleeve.

“Do you want to learn?” Li Qingji suddenly asked.

If she wanted to learn, could he really teach her?

Jiang Nai replied, “Isn’t it inappropriate? There’s Liu Nian over there…”

Li Qingji calmly said, “There’s nothing inappropriate about it; if you want to learn, it’s fine.”

Lu Feng said, “That’s great! Once you’re done, come join us!”

Li Qingji said, “We’ll see about the timing then.”

“Okay!”

Lu Feng looked excited and started planning for the upcoming skiing, considering the beginner lessons and the skiing routes he wanted to try.

Jiang Nai couldn’t understand much of this, only thinking about their relationship at work and how he could take her out alone. She figured he was just saying it… after all, if a colleague found out, she’d rather not go.

As night deepened, Jiang Nai was actually feeling sleepy, especially since she hadn’t slept well on the plane the previous day. As she sat there, drowsiness gradually washed over her. But since Li Qingji was talking with his friends, she didn’t want to disturb him, so she leaned back on the sofa, hoping to sneak a quick nap.

When Li Qingji unintentionally turned to look at her, Jiang Nai had already drifted from a light doze into a deep sleep.

She was sleeping quite soundly, completely unfazed by the noise of the bar. Her mouth was slightly open, and half of her face was pressed against the back of the sofa, giving her cheek a subtle curve.

Li Qingji couldn’t help but smile silently, then turned back to Lu Feng and said, “I’m heading out.”

Lu Feng replied, “Wait a minute, have a drink before you go.”

The others also tried to persuade him to stay.

Li Qingji said, “I have things to do tomorrow; I won’t drink.”

Seeing that Li Qingji was really going to leave, Lu Feng didn’t insist further. He only reminded him, “Make sure to bring Jiang Nai to the ski resort early tomorrow. I know she’s coming, but I’m not sure how many days she’ll be skiing.”

Li Qingji replied, “Got it.”

Lu Feng went back to his friends, and Li Qingji turned back to gently tap Jiang Nai’s cheek.

The sensation was unexpectedly pleasant. He paused for a moment and tapped her again. “Still sleeping?”

Jiang Nai, half-awake, murmured, “Hmm?”

“We’re leaving.”

“What?” 

With the noise around them, she couldn’t hear clearly. Li Qingji leaned closer. “I said, we can go now.”

Jiang Nai’s eyes opened wider, and under the lights, they glimmered slightly. “Are we going home?”

Li Qingji smiled. “We’re going back to the hotel.”

“Oh…”

She was still very sleepy and forced herself to wake up, her eyelids feeling heavier. After a while, Li Qingji found she still hadn’t gotten up and found it amusing. He stood up and reached out to her. Perhaps still in a daze from sleep, Jiang Nai naturally took his hand, using his strength to pull herself up. It was only when Li Qingji was leading her out that she gradually came to her senses and glanced at their linked hands.

His warm palm completely enveloped hers, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

But they weren’t walking on an icy road outside, and there was no particular reason for them to be holding hands like this. Jiang Nai suddenly felt her face heat up and pulled her hand away.

Li Qingji turned back to look at her, his palm empty.

“I’m so sleepy…” Jiang Nai mumbled as she yawned, stepping past him and walking ahead.

Li Qingji paused for a moment before following her.

The car was waiting outside the alley. After returning to the hotel, Jiang Nai first informed Liu Nian that she was safe before heading to take a shower and sleep. The next day, Jiang Nai and Liu Nian went to the research and development center to continue learning about the product, but Li Qingji did not accompany them.

On the third day, Jiang Nai still did not see Li Qingji. For these two days, she and Liu Nian had been going back and forth between the hotel and the R&D center. During her free time, she was working on the product report that Yao Qi had mentioned earlier.

That evening, while writing her report, she thought about how Li Qingji must have finished his work and gone to meet Lu Feng and the others.

He didn’t take her with him.

It seemed that day was just casual talk.

After typing the last word, Jiang Nai leaned back and sank into the sofa. She picked up her phone and played with it for a while. While replying to messages on WeChat, she accidentally saw Li Qingji’s profile picture, which featured a snow-capped mountain…

Lu Feng said he was very good at skiing, but she didn’t know how good he really was.

Ding—

Her phone suddenly rang, startling Jiang Nai. She sat up and answered the call.

“Hello, Liu Nian?” 

“Jiang Nai, how’s the report coming along?” 

“It’s mostly done.” 

Liu Nian replied, “So fast! That’s great, send it to me.” 

Jiang Nai said, “I mean it’s roughly done; I haven’t polished it yet. I’ll send it to you once it’s completely finished.” 

“No need, just send it to me now, and I’ll add to it later,” Liu Nian said. “You don’t have to go to the R&D center with me tomorrow; go out with the boss instead.” 

Jiang Nai was taken aback. “The boss… where are we going?” 

“Zhao Siyuan had to return to the country for something; the boss needs to meet an important client and wants to take an assistant.” 

“Huh?” 

“Just go; there’s nothing urgent coming up in the next few days anyway.” 

“Do I need to do anything?” 

“Just stay close and follow his instructions.” Liu Nian knew that everyone in the office had some trepidation about Li Qingji and wanted to reassure her, “Don’t worry; it’s nothing serious; the boss won’t make it difficult for you.” 

“Oh… got it.” 

After hanging up, Jiang Nai felt a bit dazed.

A few minutes later, Li Qingji sent her a WeChat message: [Tomorrow at nine, come to the hotel lobby].

Jiang Nai replied: [Are we really going to meet the client tomorrow?] 

Li Qingji: [Yes] 

Jiang Nai: [Where?] 

Li Qingji: [Lake Tahoe] 

—— 

The next morning, after getting up, Jiang Nai quickly washed up and took her luggage downstairs.

When she arrived at the lobby and looked around, she didn’t see anyone. Just as she was about to pick up her phone to call him, someone called her name from behind. Turning around, Jiang Nai saw the person approaching, her eyes narrowing slightly.

It was Li Qingji, but he looked different from his usual self.

Gone were the suit and leather shoes; today he was wearing ski attire in black and gray tones, a windbreaker style with the zipper pulled up to the top, partially concealing his sharply defined jawline.

The whole outfit made him look tall and sharp, exceptionally handsome.

He looked like a… college student.

Yes, dressed like this, Li Qingji didn’t resemble the decisive boss at all; instead, he looked more like a clean-cut, athletic young man. Jiang Nai’s heart skipped a beat, completely taken aback by his good looks.

“Breakfast, eat in the car.”

Li Qingji spoke in a calm tone, the air of authority returning to him a bit.

Jiang Nai snapped back to attention as she accepted the breakfast and turned her gaze away. “Why are you dressed like this? Are we going skiing? Aren’t we supposed to meet a client?”

“It’s not a conflict,” he replied.

“The client is at the ski resort?”

“Yep.”

“But I don’t know how to ski. Is it really appropriate for you to take me with you?”

“Don’t you want to go?”

“It’s not that…”

“I’m not asking you to entertain the client; just come along to try skiing a bit,” Li Qingji said. “The scenery here is really nice, and I’ll teach you.”

Jiang Nai paused for a moment, watching as Li Qingji walked toward the door. “Stop dawdling and get in the car,” he urged.

Siningte had a decent market share in Europe but had not fully penetrated the American market yet. The client they were meeting was the owner of a large real estate company in the United States. Siningte was looking to collaborate with them to install more of their products in the fully furnished homes they offered. However, meeting clients on the slopes was not a formal occasion; it was not urgent to discuss work but rather a familiar setting to create a connection.

Normally, this sort of thing didn’t require bringing along subordinates.

So bringing her along was mainly just to have some fun and enjoy the scenery.

Jiang Nai felt a subtle shift within her, as if she had become someone significant. Someone was remembering what they had said to her once. Today, Li Qingji was driving an SUV, and Jiang Nai sat in the passenger seat, her thoughts a bit scattered.

“Take the breakfast out and eat it,” Li Qingji said.

Jiang Nai nodded, opened the bag, and peeked inside. There were two sandwiches and two bottles of milk. One of the sandwiches was for him, so she took that one out and placed it on the armrest between them, then picked up the other one to eat.

After eating half of her sandwich, she glanced at him. “You should stop the car and eat your breakfast first.”

“It’s hard to find a place to stop on this road.”

“Oh… then are you hungry?”

Li Qingji looked at her, clearly indicating that he was.

Feeling a bit awkward, Jiang Nai didn’t want to just eat her breakfast without sharing, especially since it was he who had bought it, and he was driving her to go skiing.

“Can you help me unwrap it?” Li Qingji asked.

Jiang Nai nodded, setting aside her half-eaten sandwich and opening the new one to hold it.

In the next moment, Li Qingji looked over at her.

“…”

“Can you pass it over?” he asked.

Jiang Nai was taken aback, realizing he wanted her to feed him. After a moment of hesitation, she stretched her hand toward his mouth. Li Qingji kept his gaze straight ahead, slightly tilting his head to take a bite. Jiang Nai felt a bit awkward, as this action belonged to a very intimate sphere. But thinking about the current special circumstances…

She dismissed her strange thoughts and stood by, waiting for him to swallow before handing it over again. Since she needed to observe whether he had finished eating, her gaze had to remain on his face. As she watched, she suddenly thought: I wonder if anyone has told Li Qingji that he looks great in his snow gear.

No, that’s not right… good-looking people should look good in anything, right?

His nose was well-defined, his jawline sharp, and his eyelashes long… and his skin! Yao Qi had previously suspected he used some high-end skincare products; if they didn’t live together, she would have questioned it too. What man has skin this smooth?

“Jiang Nai.”

“Hmm?”

“Are you going to let me eat or not?”

Jiang Nai suddenly came to her senses, realizing she was holding the sandwich out but too far for him to bite.

“Sorry, sorry, I was lost in thought.”

Li Qingji glanced at her with a meaningful look: “What were you thinking about?”

His gaze always made people feel as though they were being seen through.

Jiang Nai felt a bit uneasy, her ears warming up as she shoved the sandwich closer to his mouth: “I wasn’t thinking about anything, just eat.”

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